ZapThink’s Licensed ZapThink Architect (LZA) Service-Oriented Architecture Training & Certification Boot Camp is recognized around the world as the best single Service-Oriented Architecture training course available anywhere.

Announcing new version 10.3 of the course, with updated content and new case studies on Next Generation, Agile SOA!

Register now for an LZA SOA Boot Camp near you!

The LZA SOA Boot Camp is an intensive, four day “fire hose” of information that prepares you to succeed with your SOA efforts, whether you’re just beginning them or are well down the road with SOA.

ZapThink’s LZA SOA Training reflects the best thinking and research that ZapThink produces.

Announcing Version 10.3 of the Licensed ZapThink Architect SOA course!

With new content on “next generation” SOA: more lightweight, decentralized, RESTful, and Cloud-friendly. We cover “first generation” SOA as well, of course: ESB-centric, Web Services-based. But many of today’s organizations are interested in moving past this heavyweight approach.

Take the LZA course to learn how to leverage next generation SOA in your organization!

ZapThink’s LZA SOA training & certification has no prerequisites, andis designed for architects, but appropriate for people with different roles and levels of expertise. This course is valuable for anyone who wants in-depth knowledge about how to succeed with SOA.

Register now for an LZA SOA Boot Camp near you!

What makes the LZA SOA Boot Camp so special?

Vendor independent — We discuss vendors in context, both good and bad. You get a balanced perspective on each vendor we discuss.

Architect focused — The course concentrates on what architects have to do to be successful with SOA in their own organizations. We balance technology details with organizational approaches. If you’re not an architect you’ll learn how to think like one in this class!

Practical — we connect theory to practice with what really works in organizations like yours.

Current — we refresh the course on a regular basis to reflect the latest SOA best practices, as well as how SOA relates to other architectural challenges in the enterprise.

Enterprise context — SOA is an approach to organizing enterprise IT resources to meet changing business needs. We place SOA into the context of large organizations, with complex, heterogeneous IT environments and all the politics and bureaucracy that every large organization faces.

Globally recognized certification — Everybody who completes the LZA SOA Boot Camp obtains a certificate representing their LZA credential, giving you the right to call yourself a Licensed ZapThink Architect with all the privileges that come along with this exclusive credential.

Not too technical, not too high-level — Unlike courses offered by others, we cover the technology without getting lost in the details. We discuss the big picture but connect it to the day-to-day reality of the IT shop.

Available around the world — See the event schedule on this page for all the locations we’re offering the LZA SOA Boot Camp!

Register now for an LZA SOA Boot Camp near you!

Different ways to take a ZapThink course

Public Enrollment Courses — Given around the world by our trainers in person, our public enrollment courses have the special benefit of learning from other architects in other organizations.

Private Enrollment Courses — Have a group of 20 or more? Bring expert trainers and the LZA course in-house! Save money and have a course at a location and time most convenient for your organization.

Online, Self-Paced Course — If you don’t have the travel budget or flexibility for an in-person course, ZapThink offers an online version as well.

Special courses for special needs — If you’d like to bring ZapThink into your organization but the LZA course isn’t a good fit, we can modify it to suit your needs. We also offer an Enterprise Cloud Computing course, SOA for Managers course, and a DoDAF with SOA course as well.

Register now for an LZA SOA Boot Camp near you!

LZA SOA Training Course Agenda

Module 1: SOA as Agile Architecture — NEW!

What is Service-Oriented Architecture, how does it relate to Enterprise Architecture, and what will it take to achieve business agility with SOA?

Module 2: APIs to Services: Past & Future — NEW!

The broader context for Services: loosely coupled interfaces that build on the idea of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). And how does REST impact the world of Services?

Team Exercise: Return on Investment of SOA

How do you quantify the benefit of SOA in dollars (or euros, or pounds…)

Homework: Service Model

Changing business requirements on one hand, complex technology environment on the other. Where to start? With the Services, of course!

Module 3: SOA Intermediaries

The great Enterprise Service Bus boondoggle and what the real story is about how middleware and RESTful intermediaries fit into the SOA puzzle.

Module 4: Service Composition and Business Process

Providing business agility and empowering the business to take greater responsibility for their business processes by implementing them with compositions of Services, including Web Services as well as RESTful Services.

Team Exercise: Service Compositions

How compositions of Services implement business processes.

Homework: SOA Business Case

Module 5: The Role of Data & Semantics

Data as the foundation for SOA, the Data Services Layer, and new treatment of Semantics and SOA, including real-world examples.

Module 6: SOA Governance

Governance of the SOA initiative is important, but we take SOA governance to the next level: how can SOA help with IT and organizational governance, and how does governance support Agile Architecture?

Team Exercise: Governance Framework

What do architects need to think about when they think about governance?

Module 7: Planning & Running the SOA Initiative

A deep dive into the iterative approach to rolling out SOA in real organizations.

Team Exercise: SOA Roadmap

What are the interdependencies among all the activities that make up a SOA initiative?

Module 8: SOA Organizational Challenges

Compared to organizational challenges, the technology is the easy part. Learn how other organizations like yours dealt with the political, bureaucratic, and interpersonal challenges inherent in most SOA initiatives.

Final Exam: SOA Jeopardy!

Play the Jeopardy! quiz show game with everyone in the class. Show your command of the material and win a copy of the book